Friday, February 11

9:30 - 10:30 a.m.  The View from the Rim
J.K. Holman, Chair, Wagner Society of Washington DC, and auther of Wagner's Ring: A Listener's Companion and Concordance, places the impact of Tristan und Isolde within the context of European culture in the 1850s -- the end of the Romantic period and a time of revolutionary innovation.

10:45 a.m. - 12 noon  A Story for the Ages
Iain Scott, an eminent lecturer on opera and a frequent guest on CBC radio's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, talks about the opera's timeless story and how Wagner reshaped it for his own purposes.

1:15 - 2:45 p.m.  Discovering the "Tristan" Melos
Saul Lillienstein, commentator for the Washington National Opera CD series, explores the revolutionary nature of the opera's music, how Wagner created a new kind of melody filled withabstract meaning, and his influence on giants who followed him, such as Strauss, Mahler, and Debussy.

3:00 - 4:30 p.m.  "Tristan" and the Mystic Experience
Jeffrey Swann, internationally renowned pianist and a frequent lecturer at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, discusses the opera's power to stir its listeners' emotions -- with musical illustrations.

Saturday, February 12

9:30 - 10:30 a.m.  Echo Effects: "Tristan" and the Uncanny
Carolyn Abbate, Professor of Music, Princeton University, and author of In Search of Opera, discusses the affinities among Wagner's music and certain literary sources, including Von Strassburg's "Tristan" poem and the writings of Schopenhauer.

11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.  "Tristan"'s Influence on World Literature
John Digaetani, Professor of English literature, Hofstra University, explores Wagner's influence on the works of Conrad, Joyce, Forster, Lawrence, and Woolf.

1:45 - 3:00 p.m.  Conducting "Tristan"
Peter Mark, Artistic Director, Virginia Opera, and conductor of Virginia Opera's performances of the opera, talks about the challenges of conducting the work, and comments on some of its musical passages.

3:15 - 4:30 p.m.  The Potion with the Poison, or the Brew that Is True?
Jeffrey Buller, classicist and Dean, Mary Baldwin College, and lecturer at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, explores whether "Tristan" is a great religeous work, a perfect work of art, or Wagner's most suicidal opera.